


16.Slow Dancing

by w_hope



Series: KHR Flufftober 2020 [16]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Adult Arcobaleno (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Don't copy to another site, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Not Beta Read, POV Third Person, Romantic Fluff, Slow Dancing, The Curse of the Rainbow Arc Aftermath (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:15:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27031048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/w_hope/pseuds/w_hope
Summary: Tsuna throws a party to celebrate the end of the Arcobaleno Curse.
Relationships: Colonnello/Lal Mirch
Series: KHR Flufftober 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945450
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

Lal slumps down in her chair, holds back her sigh.

It _is_ nice of Sawada to have organized this party in honor of the Arcobaleno Curse being lifted, after all. It’s a successful party too.

The Vongola and the Simon kids can’t drink yet, but no one else held back.

The room’s a mess—largely thanks to the fights started by the Varia—except for Lal’s corner of the seating area she fiercely defends.

The dance floor is in full swing, dominated by Skull, Colonnello, and surprisingly—and more importantly _hilariously_ —a drunk out of his mind Verde.

Reborn and Fon drink together at the bar, and Uni left her overprotecting famiglia in the dust to hang out with the girls.

Colonnello and Skull enter into _yet_ another dance battle contest, cheered on by the others surrounding them. They stagger and almost fall every two steps, probably drunk out of their mind too, shoving and pulling each other in blatant displays of cheating.

A smile tugs at Lal’s lips, and she lets her foot tap on the floor at the rhythm of the music.

She closes her eyes, retreating inside herself for just a moment.

How strange it is to feel Rain flames run through her again after all these years. How incredibly relieving it was to realize they feel just as familiar as before, as undoubtedly _hers_ as before.

If she felt braver she would have already checked on the state of their Harmony—if there was still a Harmony to check on to begin with—, but apparently all of them have yet to gather enough courage for that.

“Hey.” Colonnello leans on her chair’s armrest, his face all she can see. “What’s going on in this pretty head of yours? This is a party you know, loosen up.”

Lal adjusts his headband, combs his hair with her fingers. His blue eyes look more focused than she would have thought, a healthy red dusting his cheeks. A light smile spreads his lips, a bead of sweat running along his jawline.

Is she looking at him too much? Too hard?

God, she’s being stupid. She must have distracted him all night too, even if he was understating enough to let her.

“Hey. Did you win?”

“You bet.”

Lal scoffs, pretty much sure Skull holds the same speech as they’re talking. The first notes of the next music draw her attention instantly, and she pushes Colonnello away.

It’s their song.

“You _didn’t_.”

Colonnello grins. “Yes I did.” He bows, offers his hand to her. “Won’t you give me this dance, mia signora?”

Lal crosses her arms on her chest, turns her head away. The dance floor empties quickly in the face of the upcoming slow, except for those brave or drunk enough to find themselves a partner.

Colonnello nudges her foot. Lal bites her bottom lip.

She isn’t drunk, but she’s no coward either, is she? And she actually _wants_ this dance, doesn’t she?

Her shoulders slump, and she stands stiffly, feeling hot on the cheeks to her own annoyance.

She’s at eye level with him thanks to the heels she’s wearing, and her mood lifts.

Lal loves their sizes difference, the way she fits in his arms perfectly, the way he can rest his chin on the top of her head.

But there’s a special joy she likes to indulge herself in from time to time, in knowing she just has to tilt her head the slightest bit to kiss him, she can actually surprise him with her kisses.

“Yes?”

Lal puts her hand in his. Colonnello immediately leads the way, tugs her close to his side, delight written all over his face.

Lal scrutinizes the ruffled state of his suit, his open jacket and loose tie, tugs on his rumpled button-up.

“And _who’s_ the lucky one who got their hands all over you?”

“I wish _you_ would.”

“Maybe later.”

Colonnello glances at her, smirking much the same way as she is.

They make it to the dance floor and fall in place, hand in hand, his other hand on her waist, and hers on his shoulder.

Lal closes the rest of the distance between them, presses her body against his. She wraps her arm around his neck properly, and he wraps his around her waist.

Lal intertwines their fingers together, marvels at the familiarity of it all, so, _so_ relieved at how natural it still feels.

God, she missed him.

She _missed_ him.

“You changed perfume?”

“Yeah. Do you like it?”

Lal tucks her head in the crook of his neck, breathes in his scent. “I do.”

They rock back and forth slowly at Colonnello’s pace, who occasionally twirls her around or drops her low like she’s some fancy lady, making her laugh every time without fail.

Colonnello snickers quietly when she stumbles a bit on her steps again.

“Oh, shut up.”

“Just don’t walk on my feet with _those_ on, alright?”

“ _Shut up_. It happened _one_ time.”

“Yeah, _one_ glorious time.”

Lal purses her lips, in what she’d like to be annoyance but is actually amusement. She tugs lightly at his hair.

“I was _drunk_ , alright?”

“I _noticed_.” Colonnello laughs. “And then you walked all over my feet during the whole dance. And then you fell irremediably in love with me.” He sighs. “What a night that was.”

Lal bursts out laughing, genuine and delighted, because if she’s honest with herself it’s exactly what happened that night.

She gets twirled again, pulled back in his arms. She runs her hands through his pretty blond locks of his, rests them at the back of his neck, her fingers intertwined.

Oh, she missed him _so much_.

She’ll be _**damned**_ if she ever lets anyone or anything make it so she has to ever miss him again.

“Hey,” she says softly. Colonnello leans his forehead against hers, tilts his head. “Marry me.”

Colonnello’s face grows incredibly soft, his gaze turns impossibly loving, and he smiles. He hugs her tight, nuzzles her hair.

“I will.”

“Is it ‘later’ yet you think?”

Colonnello laughs, bites her neck. “Hell yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t even ship these two. But whenever I have to write them I simply go “these two are soulmates, and they love each other so much they’d take on a powerful Curse for each other, and they deserve a happy ending”, and then go from there.
> 
> Every time without fail, and I don’t know why that is lol.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Any and all review are appreciated. Thank you for reading!
> 
> \--- w_h


	2. Bonus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some thoughts/headcanons I have about this verse.

  * Lal has new recruits to train, and within the end of the first day this Colonnello guy is looking at her like she’s the most amazing person that ever graced his presence.

  * She’s baffled, to say the least. It’s certainly a first in her military carrier.

  * She thinks it’s just a meaningless crush he’ll grow out of quickly. He doesn’t.

  * (And she can tell by the way he looks at her it isn’t a simple crush at all for him.)

  * She thinks he’ll know better once he gets a taste of her overbearing-like and unyielding-like personality. He doesn’t.

  * (And she can see by the way he acts with her, the more he gets to know her, the more he actually, genuinely grows fonder of her.)

  * She thinks he won’t have the gall to make a move on her considering their respective position. He has.

  * (And he’s _so_ unashamed of it, Lal wants to hide in a hole forever and pretends she doesn’t feel flattered and warm every time.)

  * (She thinks it’d be better to assert explicit, disheartening boundaries for the both of them, because there’s no chance a relationship of theirs would go anywhere.)

  * (She never goes through with it.)




* * *

  * They’re at the base, enjoying some down time, a spontaneous party going on.

  * Lal gets drunk, so she is less of the Ace of COMSUBIN and their best instructor, and more just Lal Mirch.

  * And apparently Drunk Lal Mirch likes to _not_ take off her eyes of Colonnello, goofing off with his friends and occasionally hitting the dance floor.

  * One of her friend dares her “to make a _goddamn_ move already” on him, and apparently Drunk Lal Mirch is so fucking dumb she takes on the challenge without a second thought.

  * She looks him straight in the eye and just says “dance with me”, and she’s internally _mortified_ because it sounds like an order but it really isn’t.

  * She’s relieved Colonnello doesn’t fall into soldier mode, because it really _wasn’t_ an order. And her, too, wants to enjoy some quality time with just Colonnello, and not the soldier, or the recruit, or—she realizes that very second—the guy trying to woo her.

  * Lal is a terrible dancer in general, let alone when she’s drunk. But thank the god Drunk Lal Mirch apparently doesn’t give a fuck.

  * She’s all over him, half to steady herself, half because it feels nice, walks all over his feet, and is fucking giggling like some teenage girl experiencing a crush for the first time.

  * Also this is supposed to be a slow, but if she doesn’t keep moving all over the place she’s going to chicken out and ruin everything.

  * Namely, the happiness on Colonnello’s face, and the way he looks at her like it’s one of the most precious moment of his life, and he wants to remember every little details of it forever, and not just Lal being drunk out of her mind, and making a fool of herself, and he isn’t just collateral damage.

  * When she wakes up the next morning, the first thing she remembers is the dance. And then her first thought is how the _hell_ she is going to face Colonnello now she knows for certain she’s in love with him.




* * *

  * And then the Curse happens.

  * And _goddamnit_ he shouldn’t even have been there, and she sure as hell never asked him to sacrifice himself for her—Lal can take care of herself, she’s a big girl, she can look in the eye the consequences of her mistakes and holds her ground, _**why**_ didn’t he let her?—, but here they are anyway.

  * Colonnello’s last words to her before a too long time is to try not to be such a tomboy, and how dares he? _How_ _ **dares**_ _he?_

  * (He _knows_ Lal won’t ask him to stay, won’t ask to go with him.)

  * Lal wants to hit him, to scream until she loses her voice. Lal wants to cry. Lal wants to apologize, to say how so, _so_ sorry she is something like that happened to him because of her weakness.

  * Lal doesn’t say anything, doesn’t do anything.

  * She just watches him go, tears rolling down her face, and it’s the worst thing that happens that day.




* * *

  * I headcanon thirtish years happen before the Curse is lifted, and thirty years is more than enough time for people who mean everything for each other to not mean anything anymore, even without a hopeless Curse in the way.

  * But they don’t do that to each other.

  * And it takes time, and it’s hard, and it hurts, and it looks at times there’s just no point, but they won’t do that to each other. They just _won’t_.

  * They find their way to each other again, little by little, _so_ slowly but surely, talk it all out in scattered pieces of heartfelt conversations along the years.

  * They find each other again because they can’t bear to lose any more than they already did, least of all each other.




* * *

  * And then the Curse is lifted, and they get their flames back, and their body back, but nothing will ever be the same, of course not.

  * It’s okay though, because the only thing they want now is moving forward anyway.

  * And Lal proposes to him within days of the Curse being lifted, because she’ll never make the mistake of taking him for granted ever again.

  * And Colonnello says yes, because he’ll never make the mistake to think he has the luxury of _not_ making every second together counts ever again.

  * And then they fight, and the marriage is canceled, because that’s just how they are, but they never worry for a second.

  * And then they get married for good, and maybe it’s setting themselves up to fail to wish for a happily ever after, but they’ll fight for it with their everything anyway.




**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I noticed two (2) patterns so far whenever writing them:
> 
> 1) It's love at first sight for _at least_ one of them, and it _**lasts forever**_  
>  2) Colonnello worships the ground Lal walks on  
> 3) Lal never knows how to flirt back or deal with the fact she loves him back lol
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Any and all review are appreciated. Thank you for reading!
> 
> \--- w_h


End file.
